Egypt has announced plans to construct its first large-scale artificial intelligence data center, aiming for a 200-megawatt facility valued at approximately $1 billion. The project, unveiled on Wednesday by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Radiat Hindi, will incorporate Nvidia’s accelerated computing technology.
The data center’s initial phase will commence with a 20-megawatt capacity, representing an investment of around $200 million over three years. Development will be led by a partnership involving Vodafone Business, Elsewedy Electric, and Cassava Technologies, the latter serving as Nvidia’s principal partner in Africa.
This announcement follows a recent increase in international interest in Egypt’s technology sector. Just last week, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Egypt in a decade, reports indicated that Huawei submitted a bid to establish a data center in the country. During the visit, Xi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi agreed in principle to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence and related technologies, though no formal agreements were signed.
Shortly after Xi’s departure, Minister Hindi met with representatives of an unnamed US consortium of data center developers, according to state media. The discussions focused on fostering international partnerships to promote Egypt as a regional hub for data centers.
In a related development, Egypt is bolstering its industrial investment efforts through the establishment of a new sub-fund under the Sovereign Fund of Egypt. The Sovereign Fund of Egypt Sub-Fund for Industrial Investment was created with an authorized capital of 10 billion Egyptian pounds (about $195 million) and an initial paid-in capital of 500 million pounds. The fund aims to enhance exports, deepen the use of locally sourced components, and support the localization of technology within the industrial sector.
Minister of Investment Mohamed Farid Saleh, who also chairs the Sovereign Fund, emphasized that the sub-fund will prioritize export-oriented industries with significant growth potential. These include automotive components and feeder industries, electronics and electrical appliances, food and beverage processing, textiles and ready-made garments, and pharmaceuticals. Investments will be contingent on detailed feasibility studies and approval by the fund’s investment committee.
The sub-fund’s strategy focuses on reinforcing the competitiveness and production capacity of Egyptian companies, while encouraging collaborations with international industrial firms to initiate new projects or upgrade existing operations. Its investment approach incorporates partnerships with private sector entities and institutional investors, including direct company investments and indirect investments via collaboration with investment banks to establish further industrial funds.